US Championships under way

5/5/2013 – They are blessed with a $180,000 prize fund plus $65,000 in prize money for the women, and are being staged in the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. In the open section top seed Gata Kamsky and veteran GM Larry Christiansen lead with 2.0/2 points, as do Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih, one of whom will win the women's section. Pictorial report after round two.

US Championship under way

The US Chess Championships for men (open section) and women is taking place
in Saint Louis from May 3rd to 13th 2013, with May 8 being a rest day, May
13 reserved for possible tiebreaks. Top players are Gata Kamsky, Timur Gareev,
Alex Onischuk, Ray Robson, Varuzhan Akobian, Sam Shankland, Robert Hess,
Gregory Kaidanov, Larry Christiansen. The women's section is dominated by
the rivalry between defending champion IM Irina Krush and IM Anna Zatonskih.
The rounds start at 13:00h (01 p.m.) Saint Louis time = 20:00h CEST.

The opening ceremony was held at the Peabody Opera House in Saint Louis.
The 24 men and ten women were invited one-by-one on stage to be recognized
and to hear who they would match up with in round one.

Alexander Onischuk picks a bag with his start
number (on the right WGM Jennifer Shahade)

WGM Tatev Abrahamyan picks the number one in
the women's section (on the right Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield, the main organisers
and sponsors of the championships)

This is the first time that one city has hosted the championship five years
in a row, and this is mainly due to the efforts of the Sinquefields (Rex
is President and Chairman of the Board of the Chess Club and Scholastic
Center of St. Louis). In addition to the $180,000 prize fund for the U.S.
Championship and $65,000 in prize money for the U.S. Women’s Championship,
there will once again be a $64,000 “Fischer Prize” to go to
any man who runs the table and wins all nine games in the main event. Fischer’s
feat was accomplished 50 years ago at the 1963/64 U.S. Championship.

The setup for the 2013 US Championships in
the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis

Top seed Gata Kamsky defeated Alexander Shabalov
in a French Tarrasch in round one

Larry Christiansen defeate Yaacov Norowitz
in round one and then ...

... second seed Timur Gareev in round two
to join Kamsky in the 2.0/2 lead

The co-editor of our newspage, Alejandro Ramirez,
is on equal 3rd-7th with 1.5/2

See also

9/26/2017 – The final classical game. The finals has been relatively sedate with three draws until now. But it could all end today with one decisive game. Ding Liren has the black pieces today. It's going to be an exciting game. Games kick off at 13:00 CEST (7:00 AM EST) with live commentary from Tbilisi by GMs Evgeny Miroshnichenko and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili and live updates by our reporters Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

See also

7/5/2017 – This is neither prank nor clever wording: Garry Kasparov will be playing in the official St. Louis leg of the Grand Chess Tour from August 14-19, 2017. Please note that this is the Rapid and Blitz competition, just as the ones held in Paris and Levuen these last weeks, and not the classical events. However, this is not an exhibition event, and will determine the official Grand Chess Tour rankings as well as FIDE ratings of the players. Here is the press release.

Video

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